A Devil Named Aidan ✓

Chapter Sixteen

"Can you hear the sound of my voice? Do you know what I sound like?"

I ask him as he glances at my lips, whilst I brush his hair back.

With our legs around one other and our nude bodies blending into one, I was leaning on his stomach. He rubs my back all over, almost like he wants me to doze off. I loved his touch.

It made the butterflies in my body wake up.

"No, I can't hear the how you sound like..."

"So, what does your hearing aids help you with?"

"It helps me a little, I can pick up your sentences without needing to look at your lips or lip read." I smile gently and begin stroking his beard.

"So why do you always look at my lips if you don't need to?"

His finger reaches my lips, he gently tugs my bottom lip down with his thumb revealing my teeth. "Because they're beautiful, they're perfect and they fit mine so well." I roll my eyes in response to the fact that I loved his answer, and he knew it by the way he kept tugging at my lips.

"Aidan, my brother told me that you became deaf recently...can I ask how?"

Aidan pauses.

And I begin to slowly regret asking that question.

"I used to play pro, and footballers saw me as an enemy or competition. I used to be the best footballer in the stadium and people feared that, during the world cup game where I was playing for England- the players on the opposing team tried their hardest to get me off the pitch. Kicking me, pushing me, and even throwing me-but one of the players took it to another level."

Aidan takes a strand of my hair and begins wrapping it around his finger.

"He kicked a football, aiming right at my head..."

My eyes widened as I realised where this narrative was headed. I didn't press him to finish since I could sense that he didn't want to go any further.

"I couldn't hear, they thought it was temporary hearing loss but it continued-one month turned into three years and then that turned in eight."

He spoke about is as if it was nothing.

"Do you...do you miss it?"

"No, Jakes voice was so annoying."

We both laugh out loud; I can see he was trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit. In addition, I was aware that he had revealed something private with me and that perhaps if I did the same, it would make him feel less embarrassed.

"I told everyone that I forgot what happened the night of the crash, they called it traumatic memory loss, but I lied."

Aidan's brow raises. "What do you mean?"

"I remember everything, every little detail of that night."

I told my lips and look away, but Aidan uses his thumb to turn me back to face him. "Talk to me."

"I wasn't speeding, I was driving the speed limit and my dad was cheering on how proud of me he was because I just got captain at eighteen. It was the biggest achievement. I turned to look at him for only a second, and when I turned back, I see a fox and I press onto the brakes but-they weren't working."

I close my eyes.

"And the car flips over and over again, the glass was everywhere and-when the car stopped flipping, all I heard was this ringing noise. And then I turn my head and-and-there he was...we were upside down, but our seatbelt kept us from falling. Aidan, his eyes were wide open-and blood was pouring out of his mouth, I remember calling out his name, but he was just staring right at me. Dead. Then I looked down and I saw a pole strike him right in the stomach...I killed my dad."